The Last Dance, Facing Alzheimer's with Love and Laughter

Your browser does not support cascading style sheets.

About the Authors

Ann McLane Kuster grew up in Concord, New Hampshire, the youngest daughter in a prominent political family. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1978, she worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman Pete McCloskey, traveling to the Middle East and southern Africa on congressional fact-finding missions. In 1984, Ann received her law degree from Georgetown University and returned to New Hampshire to practice in the McLane Law Firm in Manchester.

Ann is now a partner in the Concord law firm of Rath, Young and Pignatelli, P.A., where she has practiced since 1987, representing primarily health care and higher education clients in the New Hampshire Legislature. She maintains a private adoption practice and is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.

Active in community service, Ann has raised funds for and served on the Boards of the United Way of Merrimack County, Child and Family Services of New Hampshire, the Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College, the Capitol Center for the Arts, and The Women's Fund of New Hampshire. She currently serves on the Boards of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, NH Public Radio and Womankind Counseling Center. Ann received the Marilla Ricker award for excellence in the legal profession from the Women's Bar Association, the Athena Award for community service from the Concord Chamber of Commerce and the Eleanor Roosevelt award for dedicated service from the NH Democratic Party.

In May 2005, Ann was named to the list of "NH Remarkable Women" by NH Magazine. She is also the Chair of the "Health Care Practice Group" at Rath, Young & Pignatelli.

Ann lives in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, with her husband Brad, who is a lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation, and their two sons, Zach and Travis.

Through twenty-five years in the New Hampshire Legislature and a run for Congress in 1980, Susan McLane advocated for the mentally ill, for welfare mothers, for dignity in dying. She fought to save the environment, preserving lakes and protecting wildlife. A tireless advocate for women in politics, raising funds and recruiting candidates, she made a difference in the lives of others. The Last Dance is this family's story about learning to "swim in the deep end of the lake" when the woman they all love best, their matriarch, Susan "Susie" McLane, slips away, one day at a time, to Alzheimer's disease.

Back to Top